Kodak Retires Kodachrome Film

[nickrapak]

Over 1000 posts, and we are still arguing over the same thing.

[rternbach]

Sounds like a very bad deal to me. Too much up front $$$ and too limited a lifetime.PE

I am reminded of years ago when I would go to the U.S. Gov't surplus yards. Not-for-profits were allowed to go through the surplus decommissioned equipment by appointment. I'll never forget signage stating: "Government Cost $10,000.00--Your Cost $25".

Best,

Rudy

[Sirius Glass]

Over 1000 posts, and we are still arguing over the same thing.

I'll bet that this thread can be milked to 2,000 if some APUGgers continue to believe that Kodachrome can be profitably resurrected!

Heck, I hit post 1,000 without even trying!

Steve

[clayne]

R&D in obsolete technology? PE stated the the R&D in Kodachrome was stopped two DECADES AGO. Get over it. There is no saving of Kodachrome.

Take two Ektachromes and one Fujichrome and you will see in the morning that there is STILL NO FUTURE IN KODACHROME.

Steve

You seem to spend a fair portion of your time sensationalizing the loss of a given film (I've seen you do it here, and I've seen you do it in the Fujifilm NPZ thread as well). What's your motivation?

[Prest_400]

Actually, the current Ektachromes hold up better than Kodachrome...220 years, IIRC.

Kodak says in their ektachrome page that these films resist about 80 years. Fujichromes should be around there, too. 80-100 years. I believe that with an outstanding processing, any film can last a tad more time. I've heard horror stories about agfachromes fading (I've got a collection that my father shot back in the late 70's and 80s) and ours are still perfect. I suppose that the cool mountain climate helped for 30 years, but I bet it's the good processing that the Agfa lab did back then.
I wonder too, do negative films hold up time worse than reversal?

[wogster]

I have no idea. It may have rusted out tank bottoms or be in perfect shape. The computer may not boot or it might just work. Then, how many rolls of Kodachrome are out there? How much would I get back?

Sounds like a very bad deal to me. Too much up front $$$ and too limited a lifetime.

PE

That's the real issue, isn't it. If there was a business model to process Kodachrome through one of these machines, going forward, don't you think Dwayne's would be considering it. It's most likely that Kodak and Dwaynes did some heavy consultation on the date for ending processing. Although the actual date of the final processing run is probably some time after that, in that film that arrives on or before that date gets processed. Film that arrives afterwards, but before the final run, may get processed as well. Film that arrives after that is SOL.

My biggest hope though, is that the process for making an processing Kodachrome is well documented so the art of making and processing this particular film is not lost. As for those bemoaning it's loss, stop mourning, shoot what you have left, then start checking out the E6 films, there are some excellent ones out there. Don't compare them to Kodachrome, but let them stand on their own merit. Heck you might find that there is an E6 film you like better!

[Sirius Glass]

You seem to spend a fair portion of your time sensationalizing the loss of a given film (I've seen you do it here, and I've seen you do it in the Fujifilm NPZ thread as well). What's your motivation?

My agendae:

1. The film companies are discontinuing film because they have to. They understand the trade offs and they are in the position that they do not have choices.
2. Unfortunately, we are not going to be able to resurrect these films.
3. I do not like that people rail against Kodak and call for boycotts of Kodak when Kodak discontinues a film and then the same people praise Fuji and cry in their beer when Fuji discontinues a film. How about a little even handedness and common sense?
4. I want to see how long this thread can drag on with post by Monday morning quarterbacks on how Kodak can continue making Kodachrome.

It helps to have a copy of the program.

Would you like to post your agendas?

Steve

[clayne]

It's just like you enjoy it a bit much is what I find disturbing. Will you enjoy it if the shit was all gone? It's natural for people to get upset when they lose something they enjoyed - so taking joy in it is a bit odd, I'd say.

[Photo Engineer]

If I posted an entire workable formula for Kodachrome with an ISO of about 25, would anyone make it? It cannot be hand coated except by a very good lab worker, but it can be machine coated with the aid of a coating engineer.

So, that would be a powerful question to have answered! I don't see anyone building their own coating machine nor anyone truly anxious to invest time and money in developing the film and process. It can be done, and I could probably post a set of workable formulas.

I would bet that no one would take me up on that.

The structure is /UV overcoat/Yellow/IL with yellow filter/Magenta/IL/Cyan/Support/RemJet backing The IL (Inter Layer contains 3-Sulfo-2,5 di-t-butyl Hydroquinone to prevent crosstalk. The yellow filter is colloidal silver. The rem-jet can be replaced with an antihal layer under the cyan layer which would be made of Gray colloidal silver.

I have no suggestions for the UV absorbing dye. It is essential though. The work would start by building a set of single layer coatings that showed feasibility, and then triple coats would be made (M + IL + C) for example, to show two color resolution and no crosstalk and finally assembly of the multilayer package to give full color photos.

PE

[rternbach]

... I don't see anyone building their own coating machine nor anyone truly anxious to invest time and money in developing the film and process. ...PE

I get no satisfaction from pointing this out but is this the definition of a dead technololgy?